1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates generally to a method for inducing lactation for the purpose of removing harmful toxins from a woman's body. More particularly, the present invention includes, among other methods, using a lactation-inducing breast pump to enable comfortable and efficient toxin removal from a woman's breast.
2. Background and Related Art
Women breastfeed in order to provide milk to their newborn infants. It is well proven that a mother's milk is optimal in nutrients for her infant. Not as well known, but proven in various studies, is the fact a mother also passes harmful toxins from her body to her infant's during breastfeeding. These harmful toxins include lead, dioxins, dichlorodiphenyl dichloroethane (DDT), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), various drugs, and a variety of other carcinogenic and birth defect-causing substances. The EPA (US Environmental Protection Agency) labels these and other toxins as “PBT's” for Persistent Bioaccumulative Toxins. In fact, in some developed countries, one World Health Organization Study found that breast milk contains up to seventeen times the levels of pesticides and dioxins considered safe for adults. Moreover, some experts suggest that in the first six months, infants receive from breast milk as much dioxin as they should receive in a lifetime. And, as many as twenty-five percent of mothers in the United States have breast milk too high in PCB's, etc. to even pass the standards for infant formula. Furthermore, one North Carolina study involving over 800 mothers suggests that toxins passed from a mother's milk to her infant are the highest for the mother's first infant and during the first month of breastfeeding the infant. Thus, pregnancy and breastfeeding pull multiple fats, nutrients and elements from a woman's body, which are then used to build the baby. Unfortunately, these elements include toxins and become part of the baby's bones and nerves, thus carrying with it, the potential for birth defects.
In addition, not only do the various toxins passed through breast milk harm the baby, but also, if the toxins remain within the woman's system, they harm her as well. For instance, it has been proven that a woman who breastfeeds has a lower incidence of breast and other cancers, because breastfeeding is said to remove carcinogenic toxins from the woman. It has also been suggested that toxins also contribute to infertility. Many of these “PBT's” are considered estrogen disruptors and can contribute to infertility. A woman may have an especially high incidence of toxins if exposed harmful toxins in the workplace, or by exposure to hazardous material, through food contamination, or by taking various toxic drugs. Lead, another harmful substance, accumulates in a woman's bones. One Australian and EPA joint study indicates a significant increase in the mobilization of this lead during breastfeeding. This lead removal via lactation was so powerful that lead stores in the woman's bones etc. were removed from childhood ingestion in these subjects that emigrated from Eastern Europe. This could be proven because Australian lead has a different atomic weight that E.Europe lead. Many toxins can only be removed through lactation, they would accumulate throughout her lifetime causing her harm.
Studies show the levels of toxins strikingly decrease over later months of breastfeeding and decrease even more, with later babies. In other words, most women pass on these harmful toxins to their first baby during the first months of breastfeeding. Thus, there is a need for inducing lactation in a woman who is not pregnant, or may even never become pregnant, for the purpose of cleansing her body, and more specifically, for the purpose of reducing her incidence of breast and other cancers and increasing her fertility. There is also a need for inducing lactation in a woman prior to pregnancy and thereby, preventing toxins from being passed to her child once born. There is also a need for stimulating lactation in a woman who has just delivered a baby and for reducing those toxins that would normally enter the baby through breast milk by use of a superior lactation-induction mechanism.
Lactation induction is achieved by a variety of methods, and is traditionally achieved for the exclusive purpose of breastfeeding a newborn infant. If a woman desires to induce lactation, and she is not pregnant, she must mimic in her body the natural changes that would occur in a woman who recently delivered a baby. Specifically, production of milk in a woman is a result of pituitary gland stimulation in her brain. Such stimulation causes the release of two hormones: prolactin and oxytocin. Prolactin tells the woman's body to begin producing milk, while oxytocin enables the release of milk from the alveoli of her breast. The sudden release of milk is known as the let-down reflex or milk-ejection reflex. The presence of maternal and psychological factors also influences lactation, such that a woman's let-down reflex often responds to the presence of a suckling infant. In sum, inducing lactation in women who are not or have never been pregnant would take more effort. Pregnancy causes development of breast tissue preparatory to lactation. First choice would be physical stimulation alone for a number of weeks. Failing that, hormone administration described herein might be necessary. This would be worth it in a woman such as a high risk for future breast cancer patient. This hormone drug administering would mimic the hormone fluctuations naturally occuring in a woman who recently delivered a baby, and by physically stimulating the breast.
Before a woman even starts this process she needs rigorous tests to make sure she doesn't already have cancer. This would include doctors exam, Pap smear, mammogram, blood tests, colonoscopy. etc. These tests are necessary because many cancers are stimulated by hormones. Breast tumors are tested by pathologists to see if they are “Estrogen Receptor Positive” or not, with a rating score. Also, any woman who has ever had any cancer, likely should not undergo this process due to the risk of stimulating existing stray cancer cells with changing hormone levels. Typically, a one centimeter tumor sheds a million cancer “seed” cells per day capable of starting new tumors. The invention is a process where carcinogenic toxins are removed before cancer or related diseases even start. Testing of this process will determine how often it needs to be repeated (every 10+ or 5 years etc.)
As mentioned above, a common way to induce and achieve lactation in either recently pregnant women, or in women who have never been pregnant, is through use of mechanical breast pumps that stimulates milk expression. Unfortunately, there are numerous shortcomings with inducing lactation using presently available breast pumps either exclusively, or coupled with lactation-inducing drugs. First, with respect to breast pumps, most consist of cold, unfeeling mechanical devices that do not effectively lead to pituitary and hormonal response. Present breast pumps are generally based on the use of a Suction cup structure that fits over the breast. These suction cups are structurally dissimilar to a baby's mouth, which fits over the breast more naturally. A pump more closely paralleling a baby's mouth would result in more effective milk production because a baby's mouth can create a deeper compression than the surfaces of suction cups of current pumps. Present devices, such as found in Larsson's U.S. Pat. No. 5,049,126 attempt to create better nipple stimulation, yet fail to achieve compression similar to a baby's mouth.
Moreover, milk production is hindered by pain; or even by the woman's state of mind if she is, perhaps, embarrassed. Use of breast pumps are often abrasive and also are embarrassing. Breast pumps also tend to inhibit the let-down reflex. Additionally, use of currently available breast pumps tends to reduce the number of months a woman lactates. Working women tend to use breast pumps more frequently than non-working women and also have been found to discontinue lactation after a few months because of discomfort and other reasons.
Thus, there is a need for a method of inducing and achieving lactation for the purpose of removing toxins from a woman's body, and more particularly, there is a need for a method that includes using a breast pump to stimulate lactation, which more closely mimics a baby so that efficient, optimal and painless milk expression is achieved.